Why I Use Podcasts So Much

Today I am going to be talking about podcasts. I find I’m listening to more and more podcasts. So, I thought I’d tell you a little about them and what I use them for.

Podcasts are in many ways the audio equivalent of a blog. They are episodic audio productions. Like blogs, they generally cater for a specific audience and follow a specific theme. For example, you may have a podcast that specifically focusses on technology related content for disabled people, as this blog does. In fact, examples of this in the visual impairment world that I have listened to are: Audio Pizza and Cool Blind Tech. Unlike radio, podcasts are usually solely online, although some radio shows do get turned into podcasts.

I listen to podcasts quite a lot. As I may have mentioned on the blog before, I’m a writer. I am working on writing my second novel and am always trying to educate myself about writing. There are some great writing theory podcasts out there that I use to educate myself about everything from the basics such as creating characters, building worlds and constructing stories, as well as more specific things such as writing for a specific genre. The podcast of this nature that I use the most is called Writing Excuses. It’s a podcast that has short episodes between 15 to 25 minutes long, that provide a fast-paced in-depth look into a specific aspect of the craft of writing each episode.

I also enjoy listening to interview-based podcasts. There are quite a lot of podcasts that involve interviews on all sorts of themes, but again I mostly listen to ones where writers are interviewed. Examples in the writing world are: First Draft and 88 Cups of Tea.

I find podcasts really useful, because as a blind person I’m not disadvantaged by not being able to see. Most podcasts are audio-based, so it doesn’t matter that I can’t see the screen, because there’s no visual content being displayed on the screen anyway. I also find them useful because I can listen to them while doing other things, so if I’m busy and haven’t much time I can fit in a bit of education or entertainment.

You can get podcasts on websites and on all sorts of different platforms to suit different devices and preferences. They are available on most themes. I’ve used them for research before and found podcasts on a wide array of topics. Sometimes, if I’m researching a topic and I’m getting a lot of images on web pages that I’m not able to access because the topic is of a visual nature, I’ll often have a look if there’s a podcast, because that’s often an easy way to find a non-visual explanation of the subject.

There are podcasts available if you’re revising for an exam. So if you’re fed up of reading, podcasts could be a good way to mix it up a bit.

What podcasts do you enjoy listening to? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

It’s a very interesting point about if developers should make their games accessible or not, or how far they should go.
I feel there are somethings that developers can do but there will be a point where game play will be compromised and that is not in their interests or for those without a disability. Some options to make the game easier to play maybe or a simplified control method.
FIFA for example has a mouse control option. This makes it possible for some alternative access devices to be used.